Get recipes in your inbox!

Son of a Gun

I had really high hopes for Son of a Gun, a seafood restaurant (not in the Pacific Northwest style we have become used to) located in Mid-City West, Los Angeles. I had read several good reviews, and we were psyched to try it when we were headed that direction to get our car registered in California one afternoon.

We hit Son of a Gun for lunch, where it appears they have the same (or mostly the same) menu that they serve at dinner. They don’t accept reservations, and we heard it got crowded, so we figured a late lunch would be the perfect time to stop. We were seated right away at a tiny table, practically on top of another couple dining similar to our experience at Pizzeria Mozza.

Service at Son of a Gun was alright, as was the food. Now I don’t expect a fabulous meal every time I eat out, but after the reviews I had read and the prices we were paying for small tapas style plates, I did expect more.

Everything is meant to share family style we were told, so we were instructed to order and our server would space out our selections across a couple of courses. We started out with a lobster roll and the smoked mahi dip with celery, radish, and crackers. Our server recommended we order two lobster rolls, since they were just a few bites each, but we stuck with one for just a taste. I think we each got two bites of the lobster roll, which was good, but waaay overpriced ($8) for the amount of lobster you get. And yes, I know lobster is expensive.

The mahi dip was quite tasty, and we were pleased with the complementary radish and celery slices. However, we were quite disappointed that the crackers were literally store-bought crackers like you’d get at an all-you-can-eat salad bar. We figured a restaurant of this caliber would make their own crackers, but even if they didn’t, the least they could have done was open the plastic packaging for us and arrange them on the plate. That experience was a bit off-putting for us.

Our second course consisted of the spicy fried chicken sandwich and the shrimp toast with herbs and sriacha mayo. The fried chicken sandwich was large and a much better value for your money than the other dishes we ordered, had a good spice and a nice breading to the chicken. However, given that this was meant to be shared, I’m not sure why they didn’t choose to make fried chicken sliders instead. It was quite the messy experience cutting it in half.

The shrimp toast was my favorite entree we tried, but once again, it was quite small. The bread was nice and buttery, and I was actually a big fan of the sriacha mayo. If you eat at Son of a Gun, I’d definitely recommend ordering this one.

We decided to get a light and refreshing dessert— the frozen lime yogurt with graham cracker crumble and toasted marshmallow— because it was super hot out that day. Fortunately, dessert was the highlight of the meal. The lime yogurt was like a nice sorbet, and the toasted marshmallow was divine. Even though it was a small portion, it was the perfect size for two people to share for dessert and not feel remotely guilty.

We left lunch at Son of a Gun for the same price that we would have paid for a nice dinner elsewhere. If we had gone for dinner, we definitely would have needed to order more food, so I don’t think we’ll be going back since there are definitely better places where you can get better food for a better price.